Autism is a relatively rare syndrome of early childhood that affects between three and eight of every 10,000 school-aged children. Autism is a serious disease that seriously impairs the functioning and life-enjoyment of its victims. The disease can include language disorders with impaired understanding, echolalia, pronominal reversal (such as using “you” instead of “I” or “me” when referring to one's self), rituals and compulsive phenomena, and uneven intellectual development with mental retardation. Autism is about two to five times more common in boys than in girls. The cause of autism is unknown, but there are, at the least, some important genetic factors, as indicated by the fact the concordance rate is significantly greater in monozygotic twins than dizygotic twins. Merck Manual, 17th edition, section 19, chapter 274 (1999); Autism Review, Lowell Ackerman, http://www.parentzone.com/autism/review.htm (1997). Other factors may include rubella, problems during pregnancy, labor and delivery, cytomegalic inclusion disease, phenylketonuria, and fragile X syndrome. Autistic children are also at increased risk of developing seizure disorders, especially during their teen years.
Analysis of the urine of autistic children found hyperpeptiduria in the children, which means that the analysis found a significantly increased presence of peptides (short chains of amino acids) in the urine of children. Reichelt et al., J. Applied Nutr., 42(1):1-11 (1990); Reichelt et al., Brain Dysfunct., 4:308-319 (1991); Reichelt et al., Dev. Brain Dysfunct,. 7:71-85 (1994). Reichelt et al. (1994) hypothesized that the peptiduria was caused by insufficient breakdown of peptide fragments from dietary milk protein (i.e., casein) and wheat protein (i.e., gluten), resulting in the uptake of the peptides by the body. This is problematic because the peptides from casein and gluten, casomorphin and gluteomorphin, respectively, have opioid qualities, which means that they mimic opiates in the body (indeed, that is indicated by the “-morphin” suffix of the names, which shows their functional similarity to morphine, a strong opiate; casomorphin is also known as caseomorphine). For example, one molecule of gluten contains 15 opioid sequences, which can be released by the action of trypsin, chymotrypsin, and secretin. Id. Reichelt et al. also hypothesized that the release of the opioid-like casomorphin (from casein) and gluteomorphin (from gluten) were caused by a defect of peptidases in the patient. Reichelt et al. (1991) at 308.
Accordingly, Reichelt et al. proposed a strict gluten-free and casein-free diet (i.e., strictly wheat-free and dairy-free). Reichelt et al. (1990) found that such a diet ultimately resulted in increased social contact, decreased stereotypy, an end to self-mutilation like head banging, and a decrease in dreamy state periods. Also, alimentary problems generally improved. Reichelt et al. (1990) at 5; accord Reichelt et al. (1991); Reichelt et al. (1994).
Ackerman (1997) hypothesized that the addition of papain, bromelain, and chymotrypsin to the diet of the patient might be beneficial. However, Ackerman never reported the actual use of any such enzymes, and his proposed combination would not be expected to work because chymotrypsin, according to Reichelt et al. (1994) at 79, is one of the digestive enzymes believed to release the detrimental opioid sequences (as well as trypsin and the hormone secretin). Papain and bromelain are, likewise, broad-spectrum digestive enzymes that would also have a reasonably high chance of actually increasing the amount of opioids, i.e., casomorphins or gluteomorphins, instead of reducing them (absent the additional use of an agent to specifically inhibit the casomorphin or gluteomorphin, as discussed further herein).
As noted above, Reichelt et al. found that a strict gluten-free and casein-free diet had beneficial effects for the patient. However, as described by Seroussi, Frequently Asked Questions About Dietary Intervention For The Treatment Of Autism And Other Developmental Disabilities, http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/aut/autgfffaq.html (1999), achieving and maintaining such a diet can be very difficult: “Be careful. Removing all dairy means ALL milk, butter, cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, etc. It also includes product ingredients such as ‘casein’ and ‘whey,’ or words even containing the word ‘casein.’ Read labels—items like bread and tuna fish often contain milk products. Even soy cheese usually contains caseinate.” Failure to adhere to the strict diet can be seriously detrimental: “What you need to understand is that for certain children, these [dairy and wheat] foods are toxic to their brains . . . . You would never knowingly feed your child poison, but if he fits into this category, that is exactly what you could be doing.” Id.; see Reichelt et al. (1991) (abstract; those patients that remained on the diet had further improvement, while those that abandoned the diet showed regression).
Thus, there has gone unmet a need for improved methods of treating patients with autism who exhibit the effects of exorphins such as gluteomorphin and casomorphin without requiring the patient to adhere to difficult dietary restrictions. Similarly, there has gone unmet a need to protect autistic patients from inadvertent exposure to gluten and casein, typically in the form of dairy products and wheat products. The present invention provides these and other advantages.